Blog Feed: them apples

I’ve got a very chequered history with pastry. Sometimes, it works out OK, but not perfect, other times it’s a complete disaster. The number of times the pastry has shrunk back from the rim of the tin, leaving a flat disk of insipid pastry with a slightly upturned lip, is uncountable. That flat disk with [...] > read more

Pecan pie, or how I finally nailed pastry making

Published on 2012-02-19 15:33:49

Prime Burger, NYC

Published on 2012-02-11 15:03:30

PRIME from thismustbetheplace on Vimeo. > read more

Prime Burger, NYC

Published on 2012-02-11 15:03:30

PRIME from thismustbetheplace on Vimeo. > read more

On Seville oranges and marmalade

Published on 2012-02-05 13:29:01

This is a great time of year to cook. Yes, we’re in the depths of winter, but the first signs of the year to come are starting to appear in the ground and in the shops. The first stalks of forced rhubarb are out, straight from the groaning sheds of West Yorkshire, and it’s the [...] > read more

On Seville oranges and marmalade

Published on 2012-02-05 13:29:01

Starter to loaf – how to make sourdough bread

Published on 2012-01-28 14:44:39

Bread is the most elemental of food. It’s just flour, water, yeast and salt, and, in it’s most basic form, that’s it. Go ahead and embellish it however you want, but a basic loaf is the stuff of life itself. But, what if you were to go one step more fundamental, and use your own [...] > read more

Starter to loaf – how to make sourdough bread

Published on 2012-01-28 14:44:39

Ecclefechan tart, for Burns Night

Published on 2012-01-25 15:06:38

Ecclefechan, a small town in the Scottish Borders is famous for a few things, including being the birthplace of both the writer Thomas Carlyle and one Archibald Arnott, Napoleon’s doctor during his extended stay on St Helena, but also, and this is slightly more pertinent for a food blog, for the Ecclefechan tart, a rich concoction of [...] > read more

Ecclefechan tart, for Burns Night

Published on 2012-01-25 15:06:38

Getting the most out of game – Fur & Feathers, with Lishman’s, Ilkley

Published on 2012-01-22 14:14:08

There’s a lot of mystery around game…hunting it, preparing it, cooking it. It’s all a little bit impenetrable for urban dwellers like me. Despite being essentially a city boy, I’ve cooked with game of various types for many years, but I’ve never really had much hands on experience with it, never shot or trapped anything, [...] > read more

Getting the most out of game – Fur & Feathers, with Lishman’s, Ilkley

Published on 2012-01-22 14:14:08

New Year, less booze?

Published on 2012-01-12 14:51:57

It’s that time of year again….Christmas and New Year over and done with, and the miserable dreariness of January, work and general fatigue induced depression right back on top of us. I started writing this on what’s widely regarded as the worst day of the year – the first Monday at the head of a [...] > read more

New Year, less booze?

Published on 2012-01-12 14:51:57

Leon: Baking & Puddings, Claire Ptak & Henry Dimbleby

Published on 2012-01-07 14:38:52

Leon is a fast food chain with a difference. Firstly, the food is quite good, and secondly, it’s prepared on the basis that it should taste good and do you good at the same time. This, Leon: Baking & Puddings, the restaurant’s third cookbook, stretches that last point to the maximum. There are recipes in [...] > read more

Leon: Baking & Puddings, Claire Ptak & Henry Dimbleby

Published on 2012-01-07 14:38:52

Spicy leftover turkey soup

Published on 2011-12-26 04:59:46

If Christmas Day brings the biggest meal of the year, it follows that Boxing Day must leave the most leftovers. Nobody – NOBODY – gets this right. The smallest turkey is simply too big for most average Christmas dinner tables, and the size of the bird seems to have a knock-on effect on the number [...] > read more

Spicy leftover turkey soup

Published on 2011-12-26 04:59:46

How much for that turkey?

Published on 2011-12-18 14:51:56

The annual task of sourcing the Christmas Day turkey normally falls to my brother, who being in the trade, knows what he’s looking for and where to get it. Sourcing the turkey and picking it up are separate tasks, and the job of actually transporting Rob’s carefully hunted prize birds usually falls to Dad. Last [...] > read more

How much for that turkey?

Published on 2011-12-18 14:51:56

Laynes Espresso, New Station Street, Leeds

Published on 2011-07-02 14:43:45

Leeds is littered with bad coffee shops. They’re everywhere, on every corner, selling their burnt-out espresso watered down with a gallon of milk to disguise the terrible taste of the coffee within. In among all the multinational chains, there > read more

Jibneh layyin, or Lebanese loose cheese

Published on 2011-06-29 07:33:52

Making your own cheese is always an adventure. �This is the simplest possible method, but there’s still something magical about it, about how warm milk just splits apart with so little provocation and turns into something completely differ > read more

Would you risk jail for a bad restaurant review?

Published on 2011-06-25 16:19:02

There’s a cautionary tale here, or a call to arms, depending on which way you look at it. Mrs Liu went to a restaurant in Taipei, found the food ‘too salty’, saw a couple of cockroaches in the kitchen, wrote about his experiences > read more

POLL RESULTS – Dinner or tea?

Published on 2011-06-22 07:17:00

Remember the other week I ran a survey about what people call their main mealtimes? The results are in, and as you can see above, they’re quite surprising. In all honesty, I wasn’t expecting such a decisive result over the mid-day meal. L > read more

The Ginger Pig Meat Book, Tim Wilson and Fran Warde

Published on 2011-06-18 14:52:55

Good meat is important. If you’re going to eat an animal, the least you can do is to make sure that it was treated well when it was alive, and that you use its meat with care and respect. Can you always do this, though? �Do you get a clear > read more

What do you call your mealtimes?

Published on 2011-06-11 03:14:40

Here’s a quick survey to start you off…just click on the big red button and answer two easy questions: Take Our Survey! // …I’ll post the results back here in a week or two. A few weeks ago, we ate at Kendells rather excellent > read more

Moghul lamb with onions and raisins

Published on 2011-06-04 08:39:27

Indian and Pakistani food is rich and varied. I’ve cooked countless lamb or mutton curries, each with the same basic method and ingredients, each of which have been vastly different because of subtle differences in spicing and small tweaks in i > read more

Turkey – Recipes and Tales From the Road, Leanne Kitchen

Published on 2011-06-01 15:30:34

I’ve been lucky enough to chance across a series of excellent cookbooks lately, all of which share a similar quality. They’re not just about food. Food might be their reason for existing, but this clutch of books have more, they have a fe > read more

Kendells Bistro, Leeds

Published on 2011-05-29 04:58:56

We ate at Kendells Bistro last week, and managed to spend a paltry £56 for a meal that I’d happily have paid double for*. Here’s how it went… Kendells is tucked away between the West Yorkshire Playhouse and the new BBC building. > read more

Rhubarb and ginger cake

Published on 2011-05-26 05:41:56

We’ve got a North facing garden, shaded by next door’s garage and four stories of Edwardian brickwork. There isn’t a lot of light back there, and the ground has a tendency to hold too much water because of the high clay content. I > read more

The Engine House Cafe, Holbeck, Leeds – decent breakfast 10 minutes from the station

Published on 2011-05-23 06:09:31

Last week, I made one of those freak miscalculations that left me stranded in Leeds Station fairly early in the morning with nothing to do. My train left at 10am, so I had an hour to wander around and explore the parts of the city south of the River > read more

Wholemeal shortbread biscuits

Published on 2011-05-18 05:53:04

This is a guest post from my son, Ethan, aged 8. Ethan has been learning about imperative verbs at school, and for one of his exercises, he had to complete a task and write a set of instructions about what he did, using words that connect each step a > read more

APP GUIDE – Selfridges Project Ocean Fish Guide

Published on 2011-05-14 01:40:46

Eating the right type of fish is becoming increasingly important, with some species on the brink of collapse because of over fishing and the frankly shameful practise of fishermen not being allowed to land perfectly good fish because of their quotas. > read more

Messada di bue – Italian-style cured beef

Published on 2011-05-10 05:44:02

I’ve said this before, many times, but it bears repeating – the best thing about cooking is the transformation of unpromising ingredients into something better. Take this dish… normally, I’d never dream of eating a piece of br > read more

La Rue, Saltaire

Published on 2011-05-07 03:23:04

French? Well, no, not really…more like one of those ‘modern British’ places. There’s a lot of belly pork, lamb, black pudding and the like, with the odd Mediterranean dish and some Asian flavours here and there, too. Mainl > read more

What’s that pasta really called?

Published on 2011-05-03 18:13:28

What kind of pasta is on your plate? by Charming Italy > read more

Ever thought about pickling a watermelon rind?

Published on 2011-04-28 14:38:50

It’s good to be frugal, but there are times when frugality goes too far and tips over into just plain old stupidity. This recipe falls just to the right side of OK – pickling a watermelon rind, you know, the green part that gets chucked o > read more

The Source at Leeds Kirkgate Market

Published on 2011-04-24 18:21:03

A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece for The Culture Vulture about Leeds Kirkgate Market and what I thought was the matter with it. It generated a fantastic debate and some great comments from a wide range of people who had plenty to say – good and > read more

Pig’s head torchon

Published on 2011-04-20 15:29:45

This recipe…no, this experiment…caused more trouble than any other I’ve ever made. The bother started in the butcher’s shop. I asked for a pig’s head. The butcher, seemingly used to such requests, went and got a pig head > read more

Toor dhal, or tasty lentils, if that’s possible

Published on 2011-04-17 16:04:18

Lentils! The world’s most underwhelming pulse. Universally cooked to near oblivion and ridiculed as sub-standard hippy/student fare, the humble lentil has a bad reputation, but cook them so that there’s still a tiny bite to them, and then > read more

Grillhouse: Gastropub at Home, Ross Dobson

Published on 2011-04-13 14:16:37

There’s a rather apologetic introduction to Ross Dobson’s book, Grillhouse, where the author dances around the fact that much of what’s to come feels a little retro and old-fashioned.� Dobson argues that “we’ve neve > read more

How to brew coffee with a cafetiere

Published on 2011-04-09 14:30:22

Coffee is easy to make well, and even easier to make badly. There are plenty of methods of making coffee, but the stand-out, everyday method is to use a cafetière, or a French press as it’s known over The Pond. Forget about drip or filter coff > read more

Is the Five Second Rule a myth, or do you eat dropped food?

Published on 2011-04-03 12:12:38

You know those times when you’ve just promised a biscuit to a four-year old, and then you accidentally scatter them all over the kitchen floor, leaving the four-year old with a look of pure horror and dismay on her face? What do you do? Normall > read more

Chana masala, or chickpea curry

Published on 2011-03-27 15:58:59

Indian cookery doesn’t have to be complicated, and it needn’t take a long time. Here’s proof. If you’re good at chopping things up, you could have this chickpea curry on the table in about twenty-five minutes, for under about > read more

Bagels, step-by-step

Published on 2011-03-23 16:27:30

People often talk about bread making as a bug of some sort that people catch. Well, I’ve definitely caught it, and in an effort to move up a rung on the artisan bread making ladder, I made a batch of bagels. This isn’t a quick recipe. You > read more

My Kitchen: Real Food From Near and Far, Stevie Parle

Published on 2011-03-19 03:51:06

“The truly delicious things are not always those that cost a fortune, but those that have been passed from generation to generation; you can taste their integrity.” Stevie Parle’s book My Kitchen – Real Food From Near and Far > read more

Goan-style pork vindaloo

Published on 2011-03-13 09:58:33

This is it. This is the most abused, mistreated and misrepresented curry in the whole of the world. There isn’t another Asian dish that comes close to this one in terms of how people view it. Its reputation is right down there in the gutter. > read more

The International, Bradford

Published on 2011-03-10 12:04:22

I said the other week that the standard of Asian restaurants in Bradford was on the slide. It’s not that there aren’t good places out there, it’s just that some of them don’t seem to be trying very hard anymore. I forgot tha > read more

Can you really review a meal you didn’t pay for?

Published on 2011-03-05 01:07:34

I write a lot about restaurants, and I’ve written before about my reservations in doing so, but as this blog has grown (beyond my wildest expectations, it must be said), I’ve been approached more and more often by restaurants who want me > read more

What’s the matter with Leeds Kirkgate market?

Published on 2011-02-27 08:10:05

Kirkgate Market in Leeds is the city’s oldest market and the biggest covered market in Europe. It’s sad to say, but it’s not what it used to be. Despite this, the place is packed with potential. Find out more in my piece on Kirkga > read more

Cochito chiapaneco, or Mexican chilli-seasoned pot roasted pork

Published on 2011-02-21 06:29:28

Pork cooked slowly for a very long time in chilli? Sounds like a good idea, right? Here’s how to do it. You’ll need some dried chillis to start with – two medium anchos and four medium guajillos. Both of these varieties are the wo > read more

Make My Day’s glass drying mat

Published on 2011-02-17 13:00:26

Make My Day Products is an Australian company who specialise in well designed, attractive and functional kitchen and household products. Their strapline is “simple, practical, designed to make your day”. That’s quite a lofty claim, > read more

A rich and spicy barbecue glaze for pork spare ribs

Published on 2011-02-12 14:08:51

This is a very optimistic recipe for this time of year. It’s got an eye firmly on the summer, but somehow, its heat and warmth don’t feel completely out of place in the depths of February. Maybe that’s because there’s never a > read more

Moroccan coconut cake

Published on 2011-02-09 13:27:32

I made a curry a while ago that called for a couple of tablespoons of dessicated coconut. As you can’t buy just a couple of tablespoons of dessicated coconut, the rest of the massive, opened packet has sat in the cupboard ever since, waiting to > read more

Shimla Kebab House, Bradford

Published on 2011-02-06 09:52:15

Bradford is rightly famous for it’s Asian restaurants. There are some very, very good places, ranging from the ambitious restaurant groups like the Aagrah or the Mumtaz, right through to tiny back street cafes. Some are outstanding, cooking exc > read more

Madhur Jaffrey’s Royal Chicken Korma, or Shani Murgh Korma

Published on 2011-02-02 07:05:53

The korma. The curry for people who don’t like curry. Normally bland, tasteless and swimming in cream, the average Asian restaurant korma is as far away from the real deal as it’s possible to get. I’d hesitate to say that the humble > read more

The Midnight Bell, Leeds…could do better?

Published on 2011-01-29 10:37:27

In retrospect, last Wednesday evening wasn’t the best night for our first visit to the Midnight Bell. The presence of Arsenal football club at nearby Elland Road for an FA Cup replay against the mighty Leeds United meant that the Bell was packe > read more

The AnySharp Pro knife sharpener

Published on 2011-01-26 01:38:21

The most dangerous thing in your kitchen right now is probably that blunt knife at the back of the drawer with all the junk in it. The problem is that many people find sharpening a knife tricky. There’s a definite knack to sharpening a knife > read more

How Not to Get Fat – Your Daily Diet, by Ian Marber

Published on 2011-01-22 16:24:32

Ian Marber, the nutritional therapist behind The Food Doctor brand of healthy food products and clinics, is a mainstay of daytime TV and magazine and newspaper food and wellbeing columns. He released his first book in 1999, and has published regula > read more

Hugh’s Fish Fight friendly mackerel bap

Published on 2011-01-19 06:22:28

As part of his Fish Fight, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is encouraging us to eat a more diverse range of fish, and there’s one cheap, sustainable, nutritious and extremely tasty species right at the front of the pack. Mackerel. Criminally under- > read more

Why are perfectly good fish thrown back into the sea, dead?

Published on 2011-01-14 16:20:38

There’s something wrong with fishing in Europe. The thing is, over half of the fish caught in the North Sea end up being thrown back overboard, dead, the victim of a set of insane regulations intended to protect European fishery stocks, but whi > read more

How to bake bread

Published on 2011-01-09 16:09:14

A lot of people are scared of baking their own bread. There’s a lot of misconceptions out there: It takes too long – not true. A very decent soda bread can be made in under an hour, start to finish. Granted, a proper loaf needs time f > read more

Claudia Roden’s The Book of Jewish Food

Published on 2011-01-05 15:26:55

I was leafing through a few cookbooks this morning when I stumbled across my copy of Claudia Roden’s The Book of Jewish Food. What struck me about it were the number of scraps of paper sticking out of the top, each bookmarking something I wante > read more

Sela Restaurant, Leeds

Published on 2010-12-31 06:09:11

I’m not very good at planning things properly, which is how we ended up at Sela the other night. It was quite accidental. We’d planned to eat at The Reliance, but found it stuffed to the rafters with Christmas party type people, with a ta > read more

Boxing Day turkey sandwiches, or how to dent the turkey mountain

Published on 2010-12-26 13:22:42

Cooking a turkey on Christmas Day is a faintly ridiculous idea. If you take an average bird of, say, 6kg in weight, you can comfortably feed at least a dozen people and probably an awful lot more than that. A bird of such colossal size pushes the phy > read more

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